Recognize anyone? Even if you don’t, I hope you have a fantastic birthday!

My Work in Progress

On June 15th, the winner of the 2018 Breakthrough Novel Awards was announced. Amy J. Markstahler’s Life Happens on the Stairs grabbed the top prize.

The other finalists were: Mari Clark for The Road to Dusty Death, Barbara Kline’s Inside the Enemy, your’s truly for Dangerous Alliance, and Chio Ojukwu’s To Cross a Blade and a Dagger.

Many congraDangerous Alliancets to all as the competition was stiff. I hope to have another novel ready for next year’s competition. I suspect many of the finalists are already hard at work on their next stories. Watch for publication of these novels and support these rising writing stars.

This week I concentrated on reviews for people who had helped out with Dangerous Alliance. Without their support, I wouldn’t have ended up as a finalist. Many thanks to all of my supporters!

I should be back to writing as normal next week. In the meantime, here’s a snippet from Carnage in Singapore, the follow-on story to Dangerous Alliance:

The woman gasped for breath, her slight figure paused against a tree. Her head snapped from right to left, a whimper whipped away in the wind. Covered in slime and blood, her clothes in tatters, she lunged into the middle of the path.

The gnarled roots of a monkey pod tree remained hidden beneath a layer of mud. A perfect trap to catch any unsuspecting creature, they waited for someone to approach.

Unsure if wild creatures or savage humans created the path, she didn’t care. All she wanted was to escape.

The pain in her chest easing, she staggered away. She struggled in the mud and stumbled, her foot caught in the roots of a nearby tree. She fell to the ground, her hands sinking into the thick ooze.

“Help!”

Who would save her in the middle of nowhere? She kicked at the root and twisted her leg until her foot popped free. She pulled herself to the edge of the mud pit and onto hard ground.

Craack!

Back on her feet, she pumped her knees to escape the sludge, her heart rate accelerating as panic skyrocketed.

A bolt of lightning lit the sky, striking a nearby tree. Shadows slithered in front of her, blocking her way forward.

She turned, searching for an escape route.

Rough hands grabbed her by the shoulders in a vise-like grip and threw her to the ground.

Perhaps more next time.

Books I’m Reading

I finished reading two books this week, the second one at almost midnight last night. I haven’t finished my reviews yet, so I’ll post them next week.

Blogs/Author Pages/Writing Sites I’d Like to Share

I’ve expanded this section from being only about blogs that I follow but also introduce you to some new authors and a few writing sites. Since I mentioned the rising stars who were finalists in the 2018 Breakthrough Novel Awards, it’s only fitting I include several up and coming authors:

Sideways Eight Series – Join author AJ Wallace as she spins the tales of Charley and Murphy, two FBI agents. Two novels have been published so far (Mindfield andDevil’s Door), with two more to follow. Well worth the read!

MD Neu – writer and published author, Follow MD’s writing journey and check out his interviews with other authors. He’s also released The Calling, an excellent sci-fi story, plus several others.

B. Douglas Slack – A newly published author, Mr. Slack provides an interesting style as he brings us a romance spanning the globe–an American man and a Japanese woman. Follow their story in You Only Love Twice.

Michael Kent – If you love crime stories, Michael has a great selection for you to read!

Alan Kemister – Follow Alan’s blog to learn more about him and his writing adventures.

That brings us to a close for another week. Hope you’ve found something of interest or at least useful for your own writing. If you have any suggestions for a topic you’d like to read about, please let me know. Until the next time, thank you for reading.